Recall
1a. What or whom is Ulrich von Gradwitz pursuing in the forest?
2a. What do the two men do when they meet face to face?
3a. What does Ulrich offer to Georg as a token of friendship?
Interpret
1b. What emotion does Ulrich feel toward Georg Znaeym at the beginning of the story?
2b. What event shows "Nature's own violence" to be stronger than the violence of either man?
3b. What thoughts on the part of both men show that even the villagers would find their reconciliation to be dramatic?
Analyze
4a. Identify the changes that take place in Ulrich and Georg while they are trapped together underneath the beech tree.
Synthesize
4b. Why do you think the changes occur in the two men?
Evaluate
5a. How strong is the new bond of friendship between Ulrich and Georg? Will it endure if they live?
Extend
5b. Read the poem "A Poison Tree" by William Blake, which also deals with the poisonous nature of feuding. How are the messages of "A Poison Tree" and "The Interlopers" similar? How are the endings different?
Aim. What do you think is Saki's principal aim in writing the short story "The Interlopers"? Does he accomplish his aim? Explain.
Plot and Conflict. Review the pyramid you completed for the Graphic Organizer. How is the conflict in the story resolved? Why is the catastrophe that follows the conflict resolution tragic?
1. Imagine that Georg has pen and paper while pinned beneath the tree and that he wants to let his men know what has transpired between him and Ulrich. Write a note that his men will find so that they will know not to continue the feud.
2. Pretend that Ulrich and Georg are rescued and are able to live out their new vows of friendship. Write a proclamation for them to read at a town meeting calling for an end to the feuding by all parties.
3. Write a conclusion for the story in which Ulrich and Georg live to prove their friendship for one another.
Vocabulary
Context Clues. Read the Language Arts Survey 1.16, "Using Context Clues to Estimate Word Meaning." Then find the words below in "The Interlopers," and write a definition for each one. Check the definition that you have recorded with the dictionary definition. Finally, write an original sentence that uses each word in context. If a word has more than one definition, use the same definition that it has in the story.
1. wrest
2. acquiesce
3. wind-scourged
4. quarry
5. wont
6. skirling
7. ere
8. condolences
9. succor
10. muster
Language, Grammar, and Style
Relative Pronouns and Subordinating Conjunctions. Read the Language Arts Survey 3.79, "Possessive Nouns and Pronouns," and 3.72 "Subordinating Conjunctions." Then indicate the relative pronouns and the subordinating conjunctions in the sentences below.
1. If there was a man whose face he didn't want to see, it was Georg Znaeym.
2. He was the person who poached Ulrich's lands.
3. Ulrich could not move from his present position unless someone came to release him.
4. After this ordeal was over, he and Georg would become friends.
5. The wolves that were approaching looked like people.
Listen to this Selection
Listen to this Selection